The spine and spinal column are extremely complex and delicate components of the human skeletal system. Made up of thirty-three bones, cartilage, ligaments and several major and minor muscles groups, these components are primarily responsible for support and protection of the body. An injury or strain to the lower back region of the body can result in excruciating pain and complete or partial loss of mobility. Moreover, lower back strain or injury can often persist long after the initial injury, producing years of pain and discomfort. Finally, back strain and injury, while comprising a significant number of activity-related injuries in the United States, remains one of the most difficult areas of diagnosis and treatment for the medical community.
To reduce the probability of injury to this region of the body, many back support devices have been developed over the years. A number of these devices have been designed to protect the lower lumbar region of the body for a particular type of activity. However, these types of support belts are either too flexible or too rigid to provide adequate support for a variety of user activities. For instance, a leather weight belt provides rigid support for the weight lifter, but is too inflexible to provide comfortable support during other more dynamic activities.
Other types of support belts have been developed to aid in the rehabilitative treatment of back injuries once injury has occurred. While providing adequate treatment alternatives once an injury is present, these belts do not offer the support and protection necessary to prevent injury to the region. Still other belts have been developed more to provide proper placement of various devices adjacent to the lower lumbar region of the body than to provide support or protection for the region. Moreover, many of the existing back support devices are complicated to use and do not offer a comfortable, correct fit.
The present invention provides a solution to the aforementioned shortcomings of available back supports. The invention is a back support belt having a dual-belt construction in which a wide, relatively elastic inner belt completely encircles the abdominal and lower back regions of the body and is secured prior to the fastening of a second, relatively less elastic outer belt. The elastic inner belt primarily provides a correct and comfortable fit while the relatively less elastic outer belt provides the rigid support needed to adequately protect the body region. The middle panel of the elastic inner belt contains additional internal padding which provides increased protection for the vulnerable central lumbar area of the lower back. The side panels of the inner belt contain foam rubber padding which supports the oblique muscles of the body in a comfortable manner during use. The differing elastic properties of the two belts provide both comfort and support simultaneously.
Muscle groups located in both the lower back and the abdomen play a role in the exertion of force through lifting, pushing or pulling activities. An additional feature of the belt is that it is substantially uniform in width and thickness throughout its length. This feature not only provides direct support to the lower back region of the body, it also allows the abdominal muscle groups to push against the support belt, thus increasing the intra-abdominal pressure and indirectly reducing stress on the spine and lower back. Thus the support belt strengthens the entire body region in a manner superior to support devices only providing support to the lower back region of the body.
In operation, the support belt is fastened around the body in a few, simple steps. First, the support belt is placed around the waist of the user. Next the inner, relatively elastic belt is closed around the user and secured. The fasteners are shaped and located such that the inner belt can be comfortably and correctly fit to users of all sizes. Finally, the outer, relatively less elastic belt, which is longer than the inner belt, is closed around the inner belt and secured by a ring and Velcro.RTM. fasteners. The combination of an elastic inner belt and a relatively less elastic outer belt provides a comfortable, protective support belt which is also quick and simple to use.